Free Alice-Miranda at Camp 10 by Jacqueline Harvey Page B

have a group, miss,’ Caprice said sadly.
    â€˜Oh dear me, I am sorry about that,’ the teacher apologised. ‘What’s your name?’
    â€˜Caprice Radford.’
    â€˜Oh, that’s right. Your mother’s Venetia Baldini. Sweet Things is one of my favourite shows,’ Miss Wall babbled.
    â€˜Yes, yes, let’s not make a fuss.’ Miss Reedy hurried back over and scanned the lists. ‘I was thinking about where to put her,’ she whispered to Miss Wall. ‘Sorry I hadn’t written it down. She’s a Barn Owl.’
    Miss Wall nodded and turned back to the students. ‘Here you are, Caprice. You’re a Barn Owl.’
    Millie’s stomach flipped. She turned around and stared at Caprice, whose perfect face was now sporting the most perfect sneer.
    The children began to fidget and chatter.
    â€˜Settle down, everyone. Before you go anywhere I need to tell you where you’ll be sleeping. The girls’ rooms are on the first and second floors of Bagley Hall and all of the boys are up in the attic. Gather up your belongings and head upstairs. And don’t leave anything behind. You need to be back here in ten minutes with a water bottle and a jacket, ready for your first activities.’
    Millie and Alice-Miranda turned around to get their things. Caprice had already disappeared.
    â€˜Hey, where’s my sleeping bag?’ Millie asked with a frown. She looked up and down.
    â€˜Perhaps someone picked it up by accident,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find it.’
    Millie knew she’d left it right on top of her backpack. She and Alice-Miranda darted between the other students, searching, but had no luck.
    â€˜Come on, Millie, we’d better get upstairs.’ Alice-Miranda grabbed her backpack and Millie followed. By the time they got to the second floor and found the barn owl on the door, the other girls were already there and had claimed their beds. The room had three sets of bunk beds and Sloane, Caprice and Jacinta were all sitting on top of them. Susannah was sitting on the bed under Caprice’s.
    â€˜Hey, not fair,’ Millie said. ‘We should have flipped a coin for the top bunks.’
    â€˜You snooze, you lose,’ said Caprice. ‘I’m going to the toilet.’ She grabbed her water bottle and jacket and leapt down from the top bunk.
    The enormous room was sparsely furnished with three chests of drawers, three sets of bunks and a small lounge setting. And while the furniture was as plain as an arrowroot biscuit, the building itself was beautiful, with high ceilings, patterned cornices and rich, honey-coloured timber floors.
    â€˜Did anyone see my sleeping bag? It was on my backpack one minute and the next it was gone,’ Millie explained.
    The other girls shook their heads. A loud thump on the doorframe made them jump. Miss Wall stuck her head in and boomed, ‘Downstairs in two minutes.’
    The girls grabbed their water bottles and jackets from their bags and joined the throng of students rushing back to the quadrangle.
    The groups lined up in front of their leaders, ready to hear the next set of instructions.
    Miss Reedy walked to the podium and picked up the loudhailer.
    â€˜Goodness me, I am disappointed already,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘What did Miss Wall tell you about taking everything with you? When I came back outside, what did I find right there in the middle of the quadrangle, as plain as the nose on my face?’
    Millie’s chest felt tight.
    Miss Reedy picked up the offending item and held it aloft for all to see.
    â€˜Millicent, come and get this, please. And if I find any more of your things lying about, you’ll be on camp clean-up for the rest of the week,’ the woman growled.
    Millie’s freckles were on fire as she skulked to the front and took the sleeping bag from Miss Reedy’s hand.
    â€˜Sorry, Miss